


Code Red

by goodmanperfectsoldier



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Meet-Cute, Meet-Ugly, Shrunkyclunks, Subways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 20:13:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18901852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmanperfectsoldier/pseuds/goodmanperfectsoldier
Summary: Written for@JCtheBirdon Twitter, who requested something based on this prompt from a list of train-related meet-cutes: "You have a bloody nose? I have tissues in my purse." Except he specified the following: "...instead of tissues, Steve pulls out a tampon from his pocket/messenger bag, and it's up to you to decide why he carries them around with him."





	Code Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_genderman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/gifts).



> Content warning for a brief mention of menstruation!

“Oh, fuck,” Captain America himself says. Bucky would be delighted at hearing the man curse in person, in _public_ , if Bucky weren’t the _reason_ he was doing it. If Captain America weren’t saying “fuck” out loud on the subway because he’d taken a swing at the asshole who’d called Bucky a slur (a couple of slurs, actually, referring to both his lack of a left arm and the bi pride button on his bag) and...hit Bucky square in the nose, instead.

“Oh, shit,” he continues.

 _Steve,_ a little voice in Bucky’s head that sounds sort of like his high school history teacher provides. _His name is Steve._

“Here, I’ve got…” Steve trails off, sitting back in his seat on the opposite side of the car and reaching down to tug his messenger bag up onto his lap and dig around in it. He pulls out a sketchbook and a couple of dime-store paperbacks and a pencil bag and various other detritus that soon litter the seat next to him, but he eventually finds what he’s looking for and pulls it out with a triumphant “ha!”

“That’s a...tampon,” Bucky says thickly, nose still pinched tight against the steady flow of blood.

“Well,” Steve says, looking at it and then holding it out in Bucky’s direction. “Yeah. Soaks up blood, right? Doesn’t matter where it goes, I figure.”

Bucky shrugs. He’s got a fucking bloody nose on the subway and apparently no one in this entire car has a single tissue on them.

 _Or, more likely, they’re all just assholes who won’t share_ , Bucky thinks darkly. But the point is, beggars can’t exactly be choosers, he supposes. So he shrugs.

“Could you, uh, unwrap it?” he asks, since he’s only got the one hand and it’s currently engaged. Steve nods and peels the wrapper off, and then, instead of handing it over, surprises Bucky by standing up and reaching for him. He telegraphs the movement well ahead of time, giving Bucky a chance to say something or just dodge him, but Bucky, for whatever reason, doesn’t. It’s Captain America, after all; not like the dude’s gonna hurt him. Not on purpose, at least. He’s ridiculously gentle, tentative even, when he tips Bucky’s head back and very carefully replaces Bucky’s fingers with his own, and then presses the end of the tampon a little bit into Bucky’s nostril. Bucky thinks he’s either going to melt into a puddle or possibly burst into flames under the intensity of Steve’s blue eyes. He barely manages to make his hand move again, taking hold of the end of the tampon so Steve can let go. 

With the blood flow surely staunched, Steve takes a moment now to run his thumbs over Bucky’s high cheekbones, checking for any other injuries (or at least that’s what Bucky’s sure he’s doing). Finding nothing to be concerned about, apparently, Steve lingers for another second before he moves back to his seat again, his hands dropping back into his lap.

“I’m really sorry, by the way,” Steve says, softly. Bucky’s about to assure him that it’s fine, it was an accident, and it’s not like Bucky’s never had a bloody nose before, either, when Steve continues. “I’d love to get you a cup of coffee, to make it up to you. If you want.”

 _Captain America_ , Bucky thinks, _I met Captain America on the subway when he punched me by accident and then gave me a tampon to stop my bloody nose. And then took me on a date. That’ll be one to tell the grandkids._

Bucky starts to nod but his nose throbs, so he just says, “Yes. I want.”

 

oOo

 

“Why did you even have that tampon?” Bucky asks, many years later. “I don’t think I ever asked.”

“Oh,” Steve says, squeezing him a little with the arm wrapped around Bucky’s waist. He sets the porch swing in motion again before continuing. “Well, my best friend had periods back then, you know. It was only polite to keep an extra on me, just in case. She always said they'd come in handy for gunshot wounds, too.”

Bucky looks at his husband sharply. “That tampon was for _Natasha_?” he asks, incredulous. “You gave me a tampon you carried around for _the Black Widow_?” 

Steve laughs. “Why do you sound so starstruck, sweetheart? You’ve been married to _Captain America_ for twenty years. _The Black Widow_ came for dinner two nights ago,” he says, imitating Bucky’s tone and poking him in the hip for good measure. “Yeah, it was Nat’s tampon. I didn’t replace it, either, and she was a little upset the next time she needed one. But she got over it once I introduced you. Told me it was worth it.” Steve looks over again, and Bucky’s still staring at him, but his shocked expression has melted into something softer, sappy.

“Yeah,” he says, squeezing Steve back and leaning into him. “It was.”

**Author's Note:**

> \- thanks as always to [aka_spacedog](https://twitter.com/aka_spacedog) for the quick beta read and kind comments!  
> \- don't forget that I've declared 2019 the Year of Self-Indulgence! NO SHAME, WE SELF-INDULGE LIKE MEN #indulgeyoself2k19  
> \- check me out on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/softestbuck) for, frankly, a bunch of nonsense


End file.
